Welcome all, to what may be the best pair of Black Lagoon episodes… Ever, really. I love so much about these episodes, and they are so intertwined with each other that I’m going to forgo the usual format and tackle them together, as a single unit, because that’s what I think they are. So strap in, cause we have a lot to talk about this week! And remember, if you have a suggestion for our next season of Throwback Thursday, post it below! I’ll add it to the ballot after next weeks post.
Starting off, what a way to bookend a pair of episodes. Seriously, beautiful stuff. I’ve long said Balalaika is my favorite Black Lagoon character, and this bookend parallel with Yukio only cemented that. The flashback to her childhood, dreaming of becoming an Olympian to restore her families honor in the eyes of the Soviet Union? Winding up shipped off to war, scarred, watching her men die and killing others in return. Disgraced as the home they fought for falls apart, soldiers without a country, abandoned and forgotten. Burying her second in command then taking up the mantle once more, giving her men purpose where they had none, diving face first into this life for the sake of another. Even the episode title, “Two Father’s Little Soldier Girls”, is beautiful in context. And the best part of it all? The rest of the episode(s) live up to what this opening promised.
Basically, it’s all about Yukio. Both this introduction and the narrative of the episodes. Yeah, the intro was ostensibly about Balalaika, about how she got to where she is now. But it also serves as a sort of road map for where Yukio may end up, as well further explanation for why she made the decision she did to take over the Wasamine clan. But because Black Lagoon opened the episode on it, with a backstory for her “opposition” no less, it’s not immediately obvious what Black Lagoon doing. It’s only as the episodes progress, as the two come closer and closer to conflict, as Yukio makes her own feelings known and plunges head first into this life, that the flashback introduction gains this extra bit of meaning. And as if to nail that into our heads, it even ends with a similar shot as it opened, of young Balalaika.
Not content with just those two however, Black Lagoon even manages to rope Rock in as an unexpected third character study! I’m honestly amazed how it managed to connect Yukio, Balalaika and Rock to the same thematic core so quickly and fantastically. The way it turns all of this on him, lambasting the ever loving shit out of him for pussy footing around, was great. I thought he had grown, that he had gotten used to this life. And in a lot of ways, he has! He’s able to read a room and deduce what happened, he’s no longer afraid of conflict like when he domed Chaka, he’s even willing to go against Balalaika to warn Yukio despite knowing she’s going to be annoyed with him. The old Rock would never have done that! But as Black Lagoon makes clear, he still has so much further to go.
What Yukio, and by extension Black Lagoon, is criticizing here isn’t his experience, knowledge or skillset. Rather it’s his commitment. As Yukio says, he’s standing in twilight. He refuses to go back home, to return to the old, soft life that Revy has been pushing him towards these past two episodes, the one he seems to hate. Yet at the same time, he’s too afraid to step any deeper into this criminal life he has with Revy in Roanapur. Rock isn’t willing to shut the door on his old life completely, to give that up and truly change himself. Yet as Yukio says, and man she has a lot of great lines this week, how can he hope to change someone else’s life if he isn’t even willing to change his own? What change can he hope to affect so long as he remains an outsider?
I especially love how Black Lagoon called back to his conversation with Revy in the submarine, back in episode 5. While he’s grown as a criminal, he still hasn’t truly changed as a person. He’s still the naïve suit holding onto his ideals that he was back then. I’m seriously hoping this arc commits to changing that, to changing him. I would love for it to end with Rock sacrificing that last shred of innocence he has to protect Revy. Perhaps he could shoot Genji in the back to save her or something, a dishonorable first kill if I’ve ever heard of one, finally bloodying his hands to protect someone he cares about. The same kind of decision Yukio and Balalaika had to make for their soldiers. Really though, I’d take just about anything. Just so long as he is pushed to truly commit to this life.
Speaking of Genji, he was a bit of a badass this week wasn’t he? Both of his fights were pretty rad, the guy has style I’ll say that much. First the restaurant, walking in and cutting down the Russians in close combat. Then the battle at the bowling alley, the way he cut Chaka’s bullet in half, then the gun into pieces, before finally taking his hands. It’s different from anyone else in the series, yet Black Lagoon sells it well enough that I’m honestly not sure if Revy could defeat him. Apparently she isn’t either, judging by how excited she was by that bullet cutting trick and how she wanted to see him do it again. I’ll be really disappointed if they don’t fight by the end, because Black Lagoon is doing a great job setting him up as a “Final Boss” type character.
As for Revy, she was fun this week. She finally got to pop off and go to town, retrieving her guns from the mail. I enjoyed the way she told off Chaka, and how she had enough professional courtesy to leave him for Genji. Most of all though, I liked the way Black Lagoon contrasted her and Genji’s world of professional killers to that of these common street thugs. For them, there is no “I give up”. These gang bangers got involved, started a fight, lost, and now they die. You don’t just get to walk away when you lose in this life, even the bounty hunters of Roanapur knew that when they raided the Black Lagoon offices. Yet for them it’s so normal, they aren’t even offended by it afterwards. Just goes to show how different their two worlds are, once again showing us the line Rock must cross.
Honestly, the only thing I disliked about these two episodes was Chaka. And I don’t mean Chaka’s existence, or how he kidnapped Yukio, or how he affected the arc or anything like that, that’s all good. Really all I disliked were his lines in the bowling alley. I get it, dudes a piece of shit, he was going to sell Yukio into sex work if Balalaika didn’t pay up for her. But did we need a graphic tirade about a crack addict who was going to make a snuff film out of Yukio eating his shit? Did we need to cross that line? Because for me, it completely took me out of the moment. It felt like something a teenager would right, sort of like how the Castlevania Netflix series made Death say “Fuck” or “Shit” or “Cunt” every other line. Sometimes writers, less is more!
So yeah, all in all, a fantastic pair of episodes. Easily some of, if not the, best Black Lagoon has given us. It built on so much that came before, from Balalaika’s arc with the twins to Revy and Rock’s conversation in the submarine, it feels final. Deserving of the shows climax. Suffice to say, it’s made me really excited for next weeks episodes as well. What’s going to happen with Yukio? Will Rock cross the line? Can Revy beat Genji? If it can just answer those questions, I’ll be happy. I’ve long said that the ending is the most important part of a series, well here’s Black Lagoon’s chance to make up for some of the middling bits that came before. Hopefully it’s able to bring it all together and I can give the series a satisfying send off.
I never liked Death cussing like an immature teen in Castlevania. I honestly do not see the appeal of the series, aside from Count Dracula.
Next set of episodes will be wild and there is still the OVA left.
Oh right, there is the OVA. I might do that separately, just because this fits in nicely to the start of the next season